It Takes A Village: The Full Stack Developer Dilemma

There is something to be said about someone who knows how to do it all. That’s the allure of the full stack developer. By definition, a full stack developer with have knowledge in every aspect of software development from front-end to backend, a knowledge of hosting, databases, API interaction, user experience design, quality assurance, security, and everything else under the sun. When you’re looking for a mobile app developer, you might be seduced by someone that claims to be able to handle all aspects, but there’s also that old saying, “Jack of all trades, master of none.”

The truth is it’s extremely unlikely that a one or two person team is going to have a mastery of all the areas you need to successfully develop your product. What you’ll end up with is some parts being executed extremely well while others will be executed quite poorly. What you need is a team who are all experts in particular areas, a team that through working together will be able to combine their specific skills to make one cohesive and superior product.

The full stack developer is actually somewhat of a myth, an iOS engineer or Android engineer masquerading as a one-stop shop of infinite knowledge and skill. Do those engineers know every software language, every platform, every faucet of interface design? Not likely.

All aspects of web / mobile app development are becoming increasingly diverse, a trend that is certain to continue. More complicated technologies are fueling next-gen applications. Just keeping tabs on the advancements is a job in its own right.

Full stack may not only be impossible, it isn’t really even practical. A simple familiarity will all aspects of development is no longer enough; functional knowledge won’t cut it. It takes years of experiences in highly specialized fields to reach the level of skill that you need, and one person simply doesn’t have enough years in their life to master them all.

So if you’re on the hunt for that elusive full stack developer, you may want to reassess. The return to the development team has never been more important. A team of specialized individuals, experts in their focused fields, all working toward one goal – your goal.

CEO and Co-founder of Neon Roots
Ben Lee is the co-founder and CEO of Neon Roots, a digital development agency with a mission to destroy the development model and rebuild it from the ground up. After a brief correspondence with Fidel Castro at age nine, Ben decided to start doing things his own way, going from busboy to club manager at a world-class nightclub before he turned 18. Since then, Ben has founded or taken a leading role in 5 businesses in everything from software development to food and entertainment.